A Glimpse Into the Future?

Ten days ago, people living in the coastal regions in the United States watched with bated breath as they witnessed a naturally occurring phenomenon of extremely high tide–popularized as “King Tide.” During this particular tide more than ever before, networks of scientists across the country urged the public to take pictures of the shore during the peak of this high tide (around October 28th-29th) and send them in. As a contrast, scientists also urged people to take pictures of the water levels one week later as they returned to normal.

As Kate Boicourt, ecologist with the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program, explained in a recent New York Times article, “an extreme tide can give a telescopic view of a future with rising seas, when tides might routinely reach levels that they now get to only twice a year. What we’re seeing [during this King Tide] is probably what we normally will be seeing by 2080.”

That being said, the following pictures taken by people across the US during the most recent King Tide may just be a glimpse into the future–depicting potential water levels a few decades from now.

While viewing King Tide in photos is interesting on its own, one man in Delaware took us on his journey of documenting this phenomenon. It is definitely an fascinating must-watch.